Acting : The Audition breakthrough by Steve James

Following a barren 2 years, audition-wise, I was forced to return to full-time 'day job; work last October. Yup, the commute, the deadlines, the office with people in it...the works. It ended on February 16, and a month later I am back home with 2 acting jobs to look forward to!

While my one day gig on an Indie film set in April came to me as a complete shock, my booking of a wonderful bad guy in a Shakespeare Theatre project toward the end of the year has opened my mind to what has been going right and wrong to my auditioning techniques since I got back into 'the biz' 10 years ago. I wanted to pass it on in case it helps, so I hope I can make it clear to everyone. If I fail, let me know, please!

I had to audition over the dreaded Zoom link, just as I had done 52 times since May 2020 (thanks to the meticulous record keeping of my Actor App.), however this one was live to the Director. I had been given ample time to prepare and I had the opportunity to actually come up with a character, dress in a way to suggest him and - crucially - have time to explain why I had made the choices I did as well as perform the piece in a more expected way. Why is this different? Because I had the power in this situation. I knew that they were looking for someone to fill a role, that I could do it justice and that I was the professional actor they required. I spoke that way and acted that way, too. Why is this different from the other 50+ auditions I had failed in?

Because putting something on tape to be packaged and sent to someone with a bunch of other actors given the Power to the Casting Director: Now, they have a choice to make with no idea of who you are and how to deliver a line compared to someone else. I realized that all of my successful auditions on the last decade have come from me being not only 'in the room', but being able to talk, show interest, create a character and appear to be someone who would be an asset to the entire production - if that production was Theatre, Broadcast (what I call Movie or TV), or commercial.

I have decided to let my Agent know this and to explain that if he needs me to be successful, he needs to put me in these situations where I can use the talents I have to their maximum. If he feels that he can't earn enough from me for this to work, I am now confident that I can be an asset to another agency.

I have found some very scary facts on how the Casting process has changed in my city over the last 2 years and I'll address that in a future post, but putting these two things together, I feel confident enough to be a part of the business in my terms, rather on some else's. There's a cool story about that Indie Movie, too, which I'll get to in a future post, but I am interested in everyone's reaction to the above, first.

Have a GREAT rest of the week to come and Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.